We are saddened by the passing of S. James Adelstein, the Paul C. Cabot Professor of Medical Biophysics, Emeritus, who died on January 16, 2026, at the age of 97. Jim was a physician-scientist in Nuclear Medicine and radiobiology and served for 19 years as Executive Dean for Academic Programs at Harvard Medical School. Jim also served on the board of the Vallee Foundation from its inception in 1996 until he stepped down in 2023.

As he notes in his memoir “Reflections on a Partially Examined Life,” his long-term relationship with Bert Vallee served as bookends for his professional career. Jim was one of Bert Vallee’s first PhD graduate students at Harvard Medical School in the 1950s and he served as President of the Vallee Foundation after Bert’s death in 2010 until 2015. Jim maintained a close relationship with Bert through their many decades at Harvard Medical School. Notably, Jim helped negotiate the gift to HMS from Bert and his wife Natalie (known as Kuggie) to establish the Bert and Natalie Vallee Professorship of Molecular Pathology, a chair now occupied by Wade Harper.

Jim provided outstanding vision and leadership in guiding the transition of the Vallee Foundation to what it has become today. He is responsible for establishing two of the Foundation’s key programs: he worked with board members Gordon Hammes, Peter Howley and Lew Cantley to establish a young investigator award program to support outstanding young scientists in establishing their research careers – that has evolved into  the Vallee Scholar Awards program. And with advice from then Vallee Visiting Professor Susan Lindquist, he established the Kuggie Vallee Distinguished Lecturer Series to highlight major successes made by women in the biomedical sciences.

During his academic career Adelstein wrote more than 250 articles and contributed to several books. His honors include election as a Fellow of the American College of Nuclear Physicians – now the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (1981) – and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1987). He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1985. His awards include the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s Herman L. Blumgart Award (1983), Paul C. Aebersold Award (1986), Georg Charles de Hevesey Nuclear Medicine Pioneer Award (1984), and Loevinger-Berman Award for internal radiation dosimetry (2014).

The Vallee Foundation is so fortunate to have had Jim’s wise council and leadership, which continue to leave a lasting imprint on our community today and for generations to come.

Middle, Jim Adelstein and Bert Vallee in 1957.  
Bottom: Jim and Mary Adelstein at the Vallee Summer Symposium in Rapallo in 2016.